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Bridge Eight - Ponte Minich

Bequeath a tidy sum to the city of Venice, and you can have a bridge named after you. That's what the surgeon Angelo Minich did in the late nineteenth century, and he got his own personalised bridge - the Ponte Minich.

It's a nice, sturdy brickwork and stone bridge that was renovated in 1998 according to the plaque on the side.

The early summer sunlight bathing the bridge and the balcony flower boxes with their red geraniums gave the bridge scene a cheery atmosphere. There's a decorated white centre keystone that features the head of a lion, Venice's mascot animal one sees everywhere in relief. A curious feature is the well-worn and ancient-looking metal straps that seem to hold the large stones topping the walkway walls in place. Now these couldn't seriously be holding the bridge together, could they?